


Dulce Et Decorum Est

by chaletian



Series: In Which The Enterprise Is Like A Village [10]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-25
Updated: 2013-06-25
Packaged: 2017-12-16 03:40:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/857356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaletian/pseuds/chaletian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's not all tribbles and three dimensional chess and groundbreaking scientific discoveries. Exploration has a price.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dulce Et Decorum Est

The Enterprise has been given a five year mission. They are to explore space. Explore strange new worlds. Meet new civilisations. Go where no human has gone before. And it's amazing, and enlightening, and exciting, and, fine, being cooped up with a few hundred other people that you don't always like and who have distinctly different opinions about the value of twenty-second abstract emotionalism to you isn't always easy, but that's a small price to pay.

This – here, now, what they're doing – is remarkable.

But it's not all tribbles and three dimensional chess and groundbreaking scientific discoveries. Exploration has a price. Today, one of the crew paid it.

James Kirk stands in Sickbay (he refuses to sit) as the doctor heals the abrasions on his hands and arms. He'd tried to refuse _that_ , but McCoy had told him if his head went down that route he'd be declared unfit for duty in three seconds flat. It's the third death in a month; they've never had so many, so close together.

"I wish I could've…"

"Wish what? What could you have done? You did everything that should have been done, and he still died." Bones sighs. "Much as I hate to agree with the king of logic out there, he was right about one thing. You didn't understand Kobyashi Maru. You can spout as much rhetoric as you like about not believing in no win situations, but life _itself_ is a no win situation, Jim, and that's all there is to it."

Jim looks bitter. It's an expression that's almost at home on his face, and Bones thinks that's wrong. He worries about Jim's recklessness. It's not that it's necessarily a problem, but, as with all things, it carries a cost, one he's not sure everyone appreciates.

"I should have saved him."

Bones grins, but he thinks he probably looks bitter too. "You wanna know what I know, Jim? Because from years of being a doctor, I can tell you this: people die. And sometimes there's not a damn thing you can do about it."

"He was only 23," says Jim, and Bones can tell he's not listening. "Nice kid. Scotty said he had a real gift with the engines. And he and Robbins had that thing going. Apparently they did it pretty much every part of the ship except the bridge." He looks thoughtful. "Maybe there too."

"Jim…"

"He missed his turn for movie night."

Bones finishes what he's doing in silence. "All set, Captain," he says. Jim makes to move, but Bones reaches out, lays a hand on his shoulder.

"They're not soldiers," says Jim.

"No," says Bones. "They're explorers. We're all explorers."

Kirk leaves Sickbay, brushing past one of his crew, a tall, thin man clutching his arm. He hears Bones say, "Oh, what do you want _now_?" and can't help but grin, and it doesn't fade as two Science officers hurry past, talking in fast, excited voices about something Stellar Cartography has turned up.

Exploration has a price. Life has a price. And Kirk thinks it's worth it. He hopes so.


End file.
